first day back at work and normally I just bumble my way through it all, since no one is doing much work, either. It takes everyone a day or so to get back up to speed.

In my case, that was a luxury I could not afford. Claim is due today and the courier is booked for 2pm to collect it, so I had my work cut-out there. But instead of being the normal woolly-headed me whenever I come back from a break, I was sharp as a tack and completely into the swing of it, like I'd never been away. It helped that I had managed to get most of it done and ready before Christmas.

The last day before the Christmas shut down, everyone else had buggered off home at midday, while I was still at my desk at 19:30 finishing it off, grumbling under my breath that I was clearing up other people's mistakes and slapdash approach to paperwork. it did serve to remind me why I had handed in my notice in the first place, so it wasn't all bad.

Anyway, it wasn't until I had faithfully promised to the receiving end that the courier had been booked and that all was well and I was well on course to getting it finished and to them by this afternoon that I realised the courier had NOT been booked and I was putting together a monumental claim that would go nowhere. So the woolly-headedness from a long break away was with me, after all.

Lastly, I appear to have gained 3Kg. I am now heavier than I have ever been in my life. I'm not all that worried though, since my new job involves a 13 mile round trip on my bike every day. It won't be long before I have thunder thighs that are solid rather than thunder thighs that are blubbery*. My main concern will be how not to get run over at the Lewes Road Gyratory, where homicidal (or plain stupid) motorists come into close proximity to cyclist who might have to actually change lanes to go right and be in someone's way for 10 seconds (heresy, I know!)

* I'm resigned to the fact that I will always have thunder thighs but I can at least alter the muscle to fat ratio through